From K to 12: A back-to-school perspective

Hailey Hannah hugs her mom, Miranda, as she heads to kindergarten on her first full day of school.

The morning of Aug. 14 marked a new beginning of sorts for most children in the Mountain Home community. For Hailey Hannah and Dez Ruiz, the day had completely different meanings.

For one, it was the beginning of a 13-year journey that will build her education background. For the other, it represented her last days on the same voyage.

For Hailey, the morning was filled with plenty of nervousness with a bit of curiosity as she struggled with the idea of going to school. Her mother, Miranda Hannah, admitted that her daughter had no intentions of wanting to go to school. Hailey was perfectly content staying at the daycare center that had served as a second home of sorts since she was just six months old.

Dez Ruiz, a senior at Mountain Home High School, has had her entire school career in Mountain Home.

But the youngster's perspective on school changed last week when she stepped into her new classroom for the first time and met her teacher, Amanda Modde. The orientation at West Elementary School allowed the Hailey and the 19 other kindergarten students in her class to meet with their teacher with their parents nearby. For many of the youngsters, the brief tour seemed to quell some of their fears.

Hailey was particularly fond of her new classroom, which she admitted was a lot bigger than the place where she used to play at preschool. In one corner of the room was a bright, multi-colored carpet that included all of the letters of the alphabet. In another corner was a long caterpillar that included the ABCs as well.

But the one thing that caught her eye was a large leaf suspended from one wall. It apparently marked a private reading area for her fellow students.

The orientation only took about 45 minutes. But by the time she was done, she seemed to be perfectly at ease with starting her first actual day of school on Aug. 15.

Well almost.

It seemed the jitters had returned once Hailey returned to the school playground as she waited to go inside.

"She's very nervous," her mother said. "She barely touched her breakfast."

It was also the first time she had seen so many children in one place at the same time.

Her anxiousness was fairly apparently as Hailey kept her arms crossed as she took a few steps toward the playground -- staying within just a few feet of where her mother stood.

"When can I go play," she finally asked.

She hesitated once again before she worked up the courage to climb on the monkey bars. At that point, a whistle blew from one end of the playground. Stopping to figure out what was happening, the youngster realized that playtime was over.

It was time for her academic journey to finally begin.

Dez Ruiz remembers taking those same first steps when she started school at West Elementary School just 12 years prior.

"I was scared," she said. "This was the first time where I had to be in one place for the entire day. As a toddler, it was terrifying."

She still remembers hanging onto the straps of her backpack and constantly fixing her hair as the nervousness of starting school finally hit home.

That first day was fairly simple, she admitted. The children spent the morning learning each other's names. For a while, she seemed reluctant to participate.

"I was just a shy, little kid. I was not talking to anyone," she said. For a time, she pretty much stayed by herself.

Looking back, she said it wasn't too hard having to learn the ABCs, 123s as well as various shapes and colors. The hardest part of kindergarten was learning how to "hold it."

"In class, you can't go to the teacher and keep asking to go to the bathroom," Ruiz said before she laughed.

By the end of the year, she had mastered those basic skills and was learning to read basic children's books. Her favorites were ones written by Dr. Seuss.

As a high school senior, the teen's class schedule is well beyond reading basic children's books. This year, Ruiz is taking three direct credit classes that will earn her college credits by the time she graduates. Among them is direct credit English, which alone will give her enough credit to skip the freshman-level program.

Her parents were hesitant about allowing her to take so many of the dual-credit classes at the same time since she was already involved in so many extra-curricular activities. How she finds the time to get everything done is a bit of a mystery, she admits.

"I don't know how I do it," Ruiz added. "I'll be doing my English work while trying to do homecoming planning at the same time."

Being able to multi task is a skill she developed during her years at the high school. It's the same skill she'll need at college, she said.

After she graduates nine months from now, she plans to attend Idaho State University and major in communication sciences and disorders with an emphasis in speech pathology. It was her experience as the captain of the high school debate team that convinced her to pursue a career in speech therapy.

Her current academic workload is vastly different than her first days of kindergarten and far more complicated.

"When I look back, I remember that my biggest worry in kindergarten was whether I wanted to use a red or pink crayon," she said. "Today, my biggest worry is making something out of myself" and to have a successful career.

She sees herself being able to meet that goal and to excel.